


Play Nice

by omfg_otp



Series: One-shots [12]
Category: Haikyuu!!, Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, M/M, the solangelo high school volleyball club au that nobody asked for
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-10
Updated: 2017-01-10
Packaged: 2018-09-16 13:35:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,262
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9274373
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/omfg_otp/pseuds/omfg_otp
Summary: Nico didn't play well with others.





	

Nico didn’t play well with others. As a child, he would hoard his own toys, playing with them by himself. He refused offers of friendship from the other boys in the playground. So what if they also had a race car toy? So what if they could race them together? Maybe Nico just wanted to race by himself.

 

Bianca told him that he should stop being rude, that people would stop talking to him if he didn’t try to be their friend back. Bianca had said that one day, he’d need a friend to help him, to support him. Bianca had been right.

 

Nico didn’t play well with others, but volleyball isn’t something you can play by yourself. Teamwork wasn’t something that came naturally to Nico whatsoever, proven by his middle school volleyball career. He didn’t listen to his teammates, he expected too much of them, he demanded more and more from them, until they had no more left to give.

 

They had left.

 

Bianca had been right, but it was too late to heed her words. His team had abandoned him without a backwards glance, and there was nothing he could do to stop it.

 

He’d taken his team for granted, and as a result, volleyball had been snatched away from him.

 

He would not make that mistake again.

 

It’s a promise he made right before entering High school, and if he was honest with himself, it wasn’t one he could see himself keeping. Especially when he ran into the vibrating ray of blinding sunshine, know to him now as _Solace_.

 

Solace, whom he distinctly remembered from a past middle school match, immediately upon seeing him had challenged Nico to a one-on-one passing game. This was _not_ how he’d hoped his high school experience would begin.

 

The competition quickly began to get heated once the other boy realised he had no hope in hell of beating Nico. The _dumbass_ had eventually gotten so worked up, he managed to get them _both_ kicked out of the gym by the team’s Captain, a boy named Grace.

 

And worse still, Grace had issued an ultimatum. They would not be playing in the club until they worked together as a _team_. The exact thing Nico struggled with most.

 

“Look, we’ll just have to work together.” The blond told him as they waited outside the gym for practice to finish. “Neither of us want to be kicked off the team before we’ve even set foot on the court. We can do it!”

 

Nico found his optimism extremely irritating.

 

They did, in fact, come up with a plan to prove to the Captain and the rest of the team that they could work together. Which is how Nico found himself on on the court the following week, facing off against Captain Jason Grace, and his right hand man, Percy Jackson.

 

“You newbies remember the rules, right?” Jackson smirked, twirling a volleyball around his palms. “If you win, you’re allowed into regular practise, if we win, neither of you will be starting players this year.”

 

It was a deal Nico found it difficult agree to, since not playing competitively for a whole year would seriously hurt his chances at a scholarship. It just wasn’t an option. And worse still, his _teammate_ lacked even the basic skills needed to play the game, and against two third years no less? They were doomed.

 

But no. Nico wasn’t giving up. This was an opportunity to start over from middle school, erase the reputation he’d created for himself. All he had to do was win.

 

The match was a tough one, the third years were putting them through their paces, even if it was obvious they were holding back. Jackson’s arrogant smirk every time he spiked a ball onto their side of the court had him seething.

 

Solace, on the other hand, seemed to get more and more determined every point they lost.

 

“One more!” He would shout, earning them an unstoppable jump serve from Grace.

 

“Idiot!” Nico hissed, moments away from throttling the other. “Why the hell are you egging them on like that?!”

 

“Because it would be no fun if we beat them when they weren’t even trying.” Will told him in earnest.

 

“ _Win_?” Nico asked incredulously, “We _can’t_ win against them!”

 

“Not with that attitude!” Solace said, flashing him a grin that made Nico feel hot under the collar. With anger of course. “I don’t know if you’ve realised this sunshine, but you’ve kinda been hogging the ball. You might want to try _tossing to me_ sometime?”

 

Nico almost growled with rage.

 

“I’ll toss to you when I think you’re essential to winning.”

 

Nico was done with this conversation, turning back towards the game, but Solace stuck his hand out, grasping at the ball between his own.

 

“Listen to me you dumbass.” He pitched his voice, and Nico glanced up to find baby blue eyes piercing his own. Determination shone out of his very being, Nico nearly took a step back. “You’re going to toss to me, got it? You’re going to toss to me, and I’m going to hit the best goddamn spike you’ve seen in your _life_.”

 

Nico gaped at the other boy, not knowing how to react. The brightness Solace radiated had turned up fever pitch, focused entirely on Nico. He could _feel_ the energy pouring out of him like waves, slowly drowning him until he could barely breathe. This boy believed so strongly in his right to win, he could make it so with a mere thought, a mere word. Nico couldn’t look away.

 

“Are you two done?” A loud voice rang out around the gym, breaking the spell. “Stop staring lovingly into each other’s eyes and let’s play some volleyball.”

 

Jackson. Nico gripped the ball tighter, wrenching it out of Solace’s grasp.

 

“Just get into position.” He muttered, making his way over to serve at the back of the court.

 

Play continued as before, Nico making no effort to include Solace until finally the boy seemed to have had enough.

 

The ball was up in the air on their side, falling in the perfect position for Nico to set it. He was about to try a spike instead when he heard Solace’s voice call out to him instead. The boy had already moved from the back of the court, and before Nico knew it, he’d jumped, hand outstretched as if to spike the air. Time slowed down as Nico calculated.

 

The ball was coming toward him at an awkward angle, there was no way he’d be able to score. Solace on the other hand was in prime position, Jackson and Grace weren’t even there to block. Getting the ball to his hand wasn’t a simple task, but Nico hadn’t earned himself the title ‘genius setter’ for nothing. That, plus the fact his setting speed was above average at worst, and monstrous at best, meant that he was sure he could get the ball to Solace’s awaiting palm in time for him to spike it over the net.

 

The sound of rubber smacking against the wooden floor could be heard around the gym, followed by Solace landing heavily beside the net. The boy in question stared down at his palm, as if he could quite believe what had happened. The two third years were also staring, faces mirroring each other’s shock.

 

Nico watched as Solace looked up at him, face splitting into a smile so powerful that it had Nico’s own lips twitching in response.

 

Nico didn’t play well with others.

 

But he could learn.

**Author's Note:**

> A gift for the beautiful @lordzarcock on tumblr for the @pjosecretsanta2016!
> 
> My tumblr: @mortal-apollo


End file.
